Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, OMCO owns and operates four strategically located custom roll-forming operations. Founded in 1955, the company has enjoyed a tremendous reputation for over forty years as one of the finest custom roll forming operations in the USA.

OMCO represents the corporate management arm of four companies including The Ohio Moulding Company, Midwest Roll Forming and Manufacturing Company, W.G. Corporation, and Cargowall Ltd.

In early 2001, Cargowall Ltd., OMCO's plant located in Oshawa, Ontario, needed to upgrade their computer systems. At that time, they were running several distinct systems, which were not connected together. Many of their business functions were handled manually, and the information they needed to make decisions wasn't readily available. They required an integrated ERP solution with a strong manufacturing component. Cargowall Ltd. started an independent search for a system.

For Cargowall Ltd., the criteria were simple: a strong manufacturing system that was well supported. In June 2001, Cargowall Ltd. selected VISUAL Manufacturing. According to Valorie Mueller, Corporate Controller for Cargowall Ltd., “We selected VISUAL Manufacturing because it was a well integrated package, and there was an excellent local support network in place. With a large customer base in Ontario, and a dedicated team of consultants, Shop 9000 offered the kind of support we were looking for.”

The VISUAL implementation process was serious business for Cargowall. They selected a strong team that was very 'manufacturing' focused team, with key financial personnel in place to ensure the reporting was handled properly. Valorie Mueller comments, “VISUAL is a manufacturing based system. You can make anything work on the finance side, but manufacturing is the heart and soul of our business, so we needed to make sure that those processes were handled properly.”

Cargowall used a very systematic approach to the implementation. Valorie describes, “We started with the Implementation Tool Kit, which is included with the VISUAL Manufacturing system. We used this material, and worked through each of the flows and processes individually, and mirrored our production and the system to work together.”

“This provided the groundwork for our implementation. Once we understood each process, we were able to fine tune, and develop our own implementation plan. The Shop 9000 consultants were very helpful with this process. They took the time we needed to explain the processes, and helped us fill in the gaps.”

With a sound plan in place, realistic milestones, and buy-in from the team, Cargowall was able to implement the entire system in under five months. “We went live with everything, including bar-coding, and for the first time, we knew what was on the Shop Floor. The information available at our fingertips was unbelievable.” Valorie concludes.

In early 2002, OMCO began looking at ERP solutions for their other three operations. Based on Cargowall's success with VISUAL Manufacturing, they decided to take a closer look at the VISUAL solution. In the fall of 2002, they made the decision to implement VISUAL Manufacturing on a corporate basis. “We were very impressed with the results that Cargowall had with VISUAL Manufacturing, so it made it easy to adopt VISUAL Manufacturing as the solution for all of our divisions.” says Clint Cassese, CFO of OMCO.

OMCO worked together with Shop 9000 to develop the implementation strategy for the US operations. According to Clint, “The Shop 9000 team was invaluable. They provided the guidance we needed up front to develop our plan - making sure our milestones and goals were set realistically. Using some resources from our Canadian operation, and the Shop 9000 team, we were able to bring up our first US site in less than two months, and within six months all of our US manufacturing companies were running live on VISUAL.”

OMCO has seen tremendous benefits since implementing the VISUAL Manufacturing system. According to Clint, “Before using VISUAL Manufacturing, we had to rely on rolled up reports in peoples pockets, and physically looked at the inventory on the shop floor for our information. We were 'historians' - waiting for the books to close at month end to find out what our profitability was. With VISUAL Manufacturing, we are now running the business pro-actively. We have real-time visibility of the Shop Floor. We have better control over our inventory and costs, and for the first time we're able to make informed decisions allowing us to operate our business profitably.”